Happy Friday Everyone! September has arrived! For some reason August seemed a little slower than other months, but then I thought how about how school days started back up and I was like "Wait...didn't we just enter summertime?" Let me think....August was busy. Some things that have been important to my family over the years have closed. Whether price, attendance, or whatever, they closed. One of those has been resolved, while we work on others. As for writing...yes, progress is being made. I've been editing Sugar & Frost and I still love it. I've been editing for a while, now, but polishing my manuscripts the best I can before querying is important. I really hope readers will like it / love it, too. It's such a fun story! I've also made progress on other things I need for querying. Major work on my blurb is done, thanks to the help of my long-time critique partner. When I sent it to her, and she sent me back her suggestions, ideas started coming. I t

  Happy August! Wow, it's the beginning (or, rather continuation, if you go by what the stores have had in stock for awhile) of back-to-school activity...already. Didn't summer begin like yesterday? Somehow this year has seemed to zip past me at a rate I didn't expect. Then again, I've had plenty to fill my days. Auto insurance issues continue for the Averie clan. I won't go into detail, but let's just say I'm not impressed. 😑 Oh, and car issues aren't fun, either, but whatever. Just gotta keep going and trust that the Lord will pull you through (the only way I know how to manage). Hurricane Beryl barreled through my part of Texas and we were without power for about 3-4 days. Not long when you consider how some people were out for at least 2 weeks (maybe more?) But, luckily it wasn't worse. (Someone in my neighborhood had a tree fall on a car! We saw them working on it, they did manage to get the car out. I don't know if it was damaged...it look

  Happy Tuesday Everyone! It's...July? Yep. July. Can you believe it? I know I often say this, but it feels like the month went by very quickly. Or maybe it just seems that way because of all the weird things happening in my life. And, yes, it's hot. (But when isn't it during June and July in Texas?) Real Life: At the end of May, lightning hit my car (at least, that's what we think happened, didn't SEE it, but based on what we know, that's what we think). Nobody was in it, but the car got damaged and wouldn't work properly. Insurance had it towed and thus began a saga (which is still going on at the time of the writing of this blog post). It's been about 3-4 weeks. We had a rental for a few days, and then had to return it. Then my husband's car had a problem and had to be towed to the dealership. So, husband talked to insurance and told them we were getting a rental because we needed transportation and he needed to get to work. Hopefully all this ge

  Happy June Everyone, June is here! Yep, it's here. May was more eventful in my real life. So, off we go: Writer's Life Updates:  Nothing fun to report on the query front with the YA Fantasy I've been querying. I still have a couple out. Editing: I've got a YA Fantasy with a Christmassy theme to it. I'm enjoying getting it polished. I hope to start querying it, soon. I'm not sure what 'soon' is, yet, though. Writing: WIPs (Works In Progress) that I'm writing are on hold (for the most part) while I edit. Other stuff: I fixed up my Mood Board for the YA Fantasy (Christmassy) story and that's up on my social media accounts (Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram). As for real life...strap on your safety belts: it's a wild ride! There have been several storms in my part of the world (especially in May). We're all safe, which I thank God for that.  One particular storm did something strange (well, strange for us, it's never happened before to

  Happy Thursday! It's May....which means the year is almost half-over. Wow. Well, my May is shaping up to be pretty busy: QUERYING : So, I'm querying one of my YA Fantasies. (If you keep up with X(Twitter), or Facebook, or even Instagram (I don't post on Instagram often, but I updated it). The Forgotten is the story I'm querying. It's a fairytale. I've got more-recently-published comps (that is, books that are similar somehow to it) in my query letters, but if you're a fan of Once Upon A Time , I could see you liking The Forgotten . We'll see what happens there. But it's close to my heart for a variety of reasons. EDITING: Saturday, April 28, 2024 I finished writing my Christmassy-type YA Fantasy, Sugar & Frost . This was a fun one to write as I leaned more into a whimsical type approach (although there are some serious moments). I played with some of the Christmas-themed stories (Kringle, Jack Frost, little Christmassy type town). (Fun Fact:

  Happy April Everyone! April has sprung or arrived or hopped in (whatever image suits you). The leaves are returning to our trees and I've seen some flowers around in different places. How about you? My Easter was very nice. We went to Mass (Catholic Christian liturgy). I really like the joy involved. It was beautiful. In the evening, we went over to one of my sister's house and had dinner with her and her family, my parents, and one of my aunts who had come into town. It was fun. My father made apple pie (one of his specialties) and my sister cooked (delicious).  Updates? I think I've mentioned this before...I've been working on a Christmassy-mythology inspired type of novel. It's a YA Fantasy (of course...because I like to incorporate fun type of magic in my work). It's going pretty well. I'm getting closer and closer to the end of writing the manuscript and then I can move into edits. It's mostly whimsical and light, with some serious moments. I'